Little Star
by ToxicRainfall
Summary: Part of the Harmony of the Heart collection: "Separate, we were nothing, but as one, we were her parents, and we always would be." / DracoXAstoria /


**-Little Star-**

**Harmony of the Heart**

**A/N**: This is part of the **Harmony of the Heart** collection, which is a series of unrelated one-shots centered on Draco/Astoria. This is for Gamma Orionis' 'OTP Bootcamp Challenge', which is to write 50 stories on my OTP, based on a series of prompts.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Harry Potter.

**Prompt:** Acrid

* * *

There was an odd, melancholy air over the graveyard that day.

Despair hung on my every breath, and words left an acrid taste on my tongue. Only tears gave any sense of sweet relief. But even they felt like poison in my eyes. I was silent, save for the ragged breaths that escaped my throat. I wasn't sure I wanted to breathe anymore. It seemed like such a chore now. There were times when I almost forgot how to, and I would gasp and choke before I sucked in the dead air.

I looked at my family and friends around me, and saw only blank stares and hollow hearts. None of them understood. Not really.

I tried, sometimes, to plead for help, for some release from this sorrow. But I could never speak the words aloud, and no-one understood the desperate look in my eyes. I could see it though, every time I looked in a mirror. Desperate eyes for a desperate soul, I supposed. I wanted someone, I _needed _someone to help me; to wrap me up in their arms and tell me everything was going to be okay. That we'll get through this, no matter how hard and impossible things seem now.

But they couldn't see it, and they left me to my lonely thoughts and desolate dreams.

You, Draco, seemed devoid of any emotion. You seemed just as dead, just as empty as the rest of them. It was almost as though you didn't care at all.

…Maybe you didn't.

A low, mournful note broke the silence, and a procession of men dressed in black marched towards us. I couldn't see it at first, but then a small sliver of white emerged between the black. They travelled closer and closer, and the coffin was coming into full view. I was finding it hard to hold myself together. It took a conscious effort to clench onto my sides and stop my heart from pouring out of my chest.

The procession stopped then, directly in front of me and you, and I saw something flicker in your eyes. I forced myself to look forward.

I broke then, shattering into a million shards of emptiness.

My baby, stolen from life before she had even taken one breath.

The coffin was so small; I could have cradled it in my arms, like some cruel parody of the life she should have had. She never saw the sun, or felt the wind on her hair. She would never hear a song, save for the tragic lullabies the angels would sing as she slept. Snow would never melt on her tongue, and she would never feel a kiss on her skin…

She was my perfect little baby, but I failed to give her life.

The earth seemed to spin then, too fast for me to hold on. And I didn't want to anymore. I wanted to be with _her_, my angel. I was her mother, and I wanted nothing more than to follow her to wherever she had gone, and keep her safe for the rest of forever. It was my duty, my divine right as a human being.

Who would miss me if I was gone, anyway? I was a hollow shell now, with a gaping abyss where my heart should be. Only death could make me whole again. I craved nothing more than to follow my baby into the grave, and curl up beside her.

I watched with horror as the men lowered the tiny coffin into the hole in the ground. It was all too much. I was ready to run then, to run and run until the breath in my lungs was spent. I wanted to run, and die and find my angel.

But then you cried.

You, Draco. You never cried. Not ever. I looked toward you, surprised and shocked and confused. You had been so strong, not showing an indication that you even cared that our baby was gone. But I could see it now. She was everything to you too, wasn't she? She was your life, and your heart. Your hopes, and your future. Just as she was mine.

Suddenly my wish to run seemed foolish, and all I wanted in that moment was to crumble with you, and share our grief.

I didn't notice that my legs had given out until I was in your arms, and you were holding me close. Our sobs were our lullaby to her, and our tears mingled, giving birth to a rivulet of wretchedness.

Apart, we were broken, but together, you and I could have some semblance of a whole. We had to be strong. We had an angel who needed us; who needed us to send up our love and kisses, our hearts and dreams. I can see that now.

Separate, we were nothing, but as one, we were her parents, and we always would be. Till the end of everything.

_Rest in peace, our little star…_


End file.
